After the Storm

In this sequel to Summer Lightning, set near the Everglades towards the end of WW II, young Terry Calder, his mother and sister await the return of his serviceman father, who is investigating the liberated concentration camps. This is a time of discovery for the inquisitive redhead, who befriends a smart-alecky half-Indian boy, a brain-damaged, unintentionally violent adolescent and a veteran who lost both his legs in the Pacific theater. Terry yearns to explore the Florida swamps with the disabled Deke, and when his mother forbids him, he turns for help to a gypsy conjurer. Moving among adults, he observes but doesn't fully understand sexual relationships, latent racism and the terrible reports from Europe. The oversimplified wonderment Richards gives her young hero often reduces his childhood to an innocence more evocative of nostalgia than wisdom. But she has a strong ability to portray her natural setting and tell a story, although that story often resembles a teenager's adventure novel. (May)